Damon Hill drops 5-word reaction to Charles Leclerc being awarded the F1 driver of the day for US GP

Ferrari star Charles Leclerc finished on the podium at the 2025 US GP after battling Lando Norris for the majority of the race. The Monegasque was awarded the F1 driver of the day award for his performance, and F1 legend Damon Hill took to Instagram and reacted to the Ferrari driver's award.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton had a subpar Sprint qualifying and Sprint race at the US GP, but were able to recover some pace for the qualifying and the main race. Leclerc started the race in P3 behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

While the top 2 started on the medium tires, Leclerc opted for a risky strategy by opting for the soft compound tires. The aim for the Monegasque driver was to pass both Norris and Verstappen by using the softer compound off the line, and then run in the clear air up front.

While Charles Leclerc failed to pass Max Verstappen, he did overtake Lando Norris on Lap 1 and kept the Briton behind him for the first stint. After the McLaren driver eventually passed him, Leclerc pitted for the medium tires, undercut Lando, and overtook the #4 driver after the pit stops played out.

Norris, on the softer tires, initially struggled to pass Leclerc as the tires overheated. The McLaren driver then cooled down his tires and eventually overtook the Ferrari star.

Charles Leclerc provided a good amount of action at the US GP during his battles with Lando Norris and was awarded the driver of the day. Former F1 champion Damon Hill took to Instagram and shared F1’s post about Leclerc winning driver of the day, with a caption that read,

“Provided us with a race.”

Image credits: Instagram/@96f1champ

It was Leclerc's first podium finish since the summer break ended.

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Charles Leclerc details the strategic gamble to start on soft tires at the US GP

The Monegasque was the only driver in the Top 10 to start on the soft tires. Given the hot temperatures at the Circuit of the Americas, the softs weren't expected to be a good race tire. However, Charles Leclerc made them work, and eventually those who started on the mediums also ran the soft compound for the second stint.

Speaking about the risky strategy to start the soft tires, Leclerc said, (via F1's official website)

“What I had in mind was to use the softs to try to get free air – it was quite optimistic because we had two cars in front, but that’s what we tried to do. We at least gained a position, and that helped us a lot for the rest of the race.” “I enjoyed it. Unfortunately, today I lost out at the end, but I had fun in the car,” added Leclerc while speaking about the battle with Lando Norris

Lewis Hamilton also seemed relatively comfortable with the SF25, finishing the race in P4 and bringing home a good haul of points for Ferrari.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi